The economy of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including trade, commerce, industries, occupations, and the archaeological and inscriptional evidence for them

What this dot point is asking

NESA expects you to describe the economic activities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and integrate specific archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence for them. The Cities of Vesuvius preserve more economic evidence than any other Roman urban site. Strong answers cite named workshops, named individuals, and engage with the Moeller vs Jongman debate about the scale of Pompeian industry.

The answer

Agriculture: wine, olive oil, fruit

The volcanic soils of Campania produced exceptional wine, olive oil, fruit, and grain. Around 30 villas rusticae (working farms) have been excavated in the Pompeian hinterland, including the Villa Regina at Boscoreale, the Villa of the Mosaic Columns, and the Villa of the Mysteries (which combined agricultural production with elite residence).

Wine production used dolia (large fermentation jars), torcularia (presses), and amphorae for export. Vesuvinum (Vesuvian wine) was a recognised brand. Amphorae from Pompeii have been found across the western Mediterranean, including Gaul, Spain, and North Africa.

Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia 14.34) lists Pompeian wines among the regional vintages worth naming, though he is critical of their quality compared with the Falernian.

Manufacturing: garum, textiles, bread, pottery

Garum production. Pompeii was a major Mediterranean centre for garum, the fermented fish sauce used in nearly every Roman dish. The workshop of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus produced four named grades (highest "flos floris," second, third, fourth). Urceus jars labelled "G(ari) F(los) Scauri" have been found across the empire. Robert Curtis (Garum and Salsamenta, 1991) catalogued 30 garum producers in Pompeii. The Villa of Umbricius Scaurus on the Via Stabia preserves the family business and household.

Textile industry. The fullonicae cleaned and treated wool. The Fullery of Stephanus on the Via dell'Abbondanza preserves the basins where wool was trampled with urine (collected in amphorae outside the shop), the press, and dyeing facilities. The "Procession of the Fullers" fresco from the Fullery of Veranius Hypsaeus shows fullers worshipping Venus, who was both Pompeii's patron deity and patron of the trade.

Walter Moeller (The Wool Trade of Ancient Pompeii, 1976) argued Pompeii was a major regional textile centre with hundreds of workers. Willem Jongman (The Economy and Society of Pompeii, 1988) disputed this, arguing the scale was modest and agriculture, not industry, dominated the economy. Most current scholarship sits between the two positions.

Bakeries. Over 30 bakeries (pistrina) have been identified. The Bakery of Modestus produced 81 loaves carbonised in the oven on the day of the eruption. Lava-stone millstones turned by donkeys ground the grain; the loaves were marked with a cross to break into eight portions.

Pottery and brickmaking. The kilns of the Eumachia family produced amphorae and tiles. Bronze and metal workshops along the Via dell'Abbondanza produced cookware, tools, and votive items.

Retail trade and shops

Over 600 shops have been identified at Pompeii. The Via dell'Abbondanza and Via di Mercurio were the main commercial streets. Thermopolia (fast-food bars with sunken counter-jars) were ubiquitous; over 150 have been identified. The thermopolium of Vetutius Placidus preserves the counter, the lararium, and a deposit of around 1,300 sestertii.

Shop signs were painted onto exterior walls. The "Procession of the Carpenters" relief on the workshop of Verecundus shows the trade. Electoral graffiti from the AD 79 elections (recommending candidates "the bakers ask," "the muleteers ask," "the goldsmiths ask") provide a directory of occupational groups in Pompeii.

The Forum, harbour, and trade

The Forum at Pompeii was the commercial and civic centre. The macellum (food market) on the Forum's east side preserves the market stalls, the tholos (central feature), and the painted decoration of food being sold.

Herculaneum's economy was more residential than commercial. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill argues Herculaneum was effectively a high-status suburb of Naples (Neapolis) rather than a major industrial centre.

The Sarno River (navigable to Pompeii in antiquity) and the Bay of Naples coastline gave both cities access to maritime trade. Amphorae from Spain (garum and oil), Gaul (wine), Africa (oil), and the eastern Mediterranean (wine, slaves) have been found in significant quantities.

Slaves and labour

Slave labour underpinned the economy. The walls of bakeries, fulleries, and brothels (the Lupanare) show graffiti naming individual slaves. The skeleton remains of slaves identified at the Boscoreale and Boscotrecase villas show the rural labour force. Roman law (the Lex Aquilia, 286 BC) treated slaves as property; the AD 79 evidence preserves both the legal abstraction and the lived reality.

Historians' verdicts

Walter Moeller (1976) treats Pompeii as a major textile centre with hundreds of fulleries.

Willem Jongman (1988) argues Moeller overstates industrial scale and that Pompeii was primarily an agricultural town with services and crafts attached.

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum, 1994) reads the houses themselves as evidence: elite residences combined production (workshops, storage) with display, blurring the modern distinction between home and workplace.

Mary Beard (Pompeii, 2008) integrates the debates: the cities preserved a small-to-medium-sized regional economy, neither a global hub nor a purely agricultural backwater.

Economic evidence at a glance

How to read a source on this topic

Section I source questions on the economy commonly use shop signs, amphora inscriptions, electoral graffiti, the "Procession of the Fullers" fresco, photographs of workshops, or extracts from Pliny the Elder. Three reading habits.

First, separate the named from the generic. An urceus jar labelled "Gari Flos Scauri" identifies a specific producer; a generic amphora identifies a region (e.g. Hispanian oil). Always note which level of evidence the source gives.

Second, integrate epigraphy with archaeology. Electoral graffiti name occupational groups ("the muleteers ask"); the workshops themselves show what those groups did. Use both together for a high-band answer.

Third, watch for the Moeller vs Jongman debate. Any source on textile production should prompt the question: is this evidence of a major industry (Moeller) or a modest local trade (Jongman)?

Common exam traps

Treating Pompeii and Herculaneum as economically identical. Herculaneum was smaller, more residential, and less industrial. Wallace-Hadrill stresses the difference.

Overstating industrial scale. Cite Jongman's critique of Moeller. A 7-mark answer that ignores the debate loses marks.

Forgetting electoral graffiti. The AD 79 electoral campaign provides a directory of occupational groups. The bakers, muleteers, goldsmiths, and dyers all endorsed candidates.

Confusing dolia, amphorae, and urceus. Dolia: large fermentation jars. Amphorae: shipping containers (wine, oil). Urceus: small jars for garum.

In one sentence

The economy of Pompeii and Herculaneum, evidenced through workshops, amphorae, shop signs, electoral graffiti, and elite villa archaeology, combined wine and olive oil production from volcanic soils, the Umbricius Scaurus garum trade, the textile fulleries (debated in scale between Moeller and Jongman), and over 600 retail shops, in a regional Bay of Naples economy that Wallace-Hadrill and Beard read as a moderately prosperous but not exceptional Roman urban centre.